A New Life:Chapter 21: I've Got Somewhere I Belong
by betterthings89
Summary: This saga is about the lives of the children of Lilly&Oliver and their friends children too. This chapter is about Jim's first weeks of college, contact with old friends, and the making of new ones. Please leave reviews!


_* I hope you like this! __**Please leave reviews**__!_

**A New Life**

**-Chapter 21: I've Got Somewhere I Belong–**

Jim sat bored at his desk on his side of the dorm room. His family had only left three hours ago but it seemed like only minutes had gone by. It felt like it had all just happened within the last few moments. He had just made the biggest change in his life. He had moved away to college. It was the start of a new and exciting life for him and he couldn't wait for it to begin. But before any of it began he had to wait out the weekend. It was only Saturday evening; classes didn't start until Monday morning. In the mean time he had to decide what to do with his time. He had figured on getting to know his roommate. But the housing department had informed him that his roommate would not be there until sometime on Monday. So for now he was all alone. There was no one he knew to talk to. A few people he knew from Sea View High school where in other dorms on the other side of the campus. Unfortunately they where people he hadn't known too well. But that might have to change. Quickly he decided it was his goal to make at least one new friend at college this semester.

In the meantime he continuously tapped a section on his cardboard thin computer screen to see if anyone was online. So far neither Sam nor Alice was signed into their video chat accounts. This meant either they were still busy putting things where they belonged in their respective dorm rooms, or they had had more luck finding things to occupy their time over the weekend. He understood why Sam may not have called yet, he was his best friend but he was still not in that big a hurry to jump onto his computer. The reason for Alice's absence on his screen was as yet a mystery. As he sat there at his desk in a sweat covered undershirt and jean shorts he thought of things to do to pass the time. He looked at a picture, sitting out in no logical place as of yet, of he and his brother standing on the Malibu beach in swim trunk, both of them with one hand on their surf boards and the other hand around each others' shoulders. Mike was short and thin with a huge smile, and Jim was several inches taller with a little bit of an oversized belly. He looked to be about eleven and Mike was only around seven years old. _"Man he's grown up a lot since then, he's probably grown since I saw him three hours ago…or was it four now. And man was I porky back then."_ He thought to himself, looking at his now largely muscular body. He checked his computer for what seemed like the billionth time, but to no avail. There was still no one else online. So he went to the universities website and began to fill in his health forms, for lack of anything else to do.

"Let's see name: Oken, James Oliver. Date of birth is June twenty-second twenty-nineteen. Eye color is blue, hair color is black. My height is five foot ten. I weigh one hundred-eighty pounds. I guess all those workouts pay off…" Jim recited out loud. He was interrupted by a beeping sound coming from the computer. There was a message balloon at the bottom of the screen that read _"Incoming video conference call from Sam Brooks and Alice Greenwood, do you wish to accept?" _

He immediately touched an area, in the touch sensitive key area that only reacted to the finger print area of his fingers, to activate the call. Due to a fairly recent development in internet chat technology, Sam and Alice's full bodies warbled into holographic existence as if they were both sitting right next to him.

"This is so cool Jim! Right Alice?" Sam commented in amazement.

"I'm not so sure, it feels weird with you two sitting there glowing like that, and I can almost see through you." Alice said a look of disorientation on her face.

"So what have you two been up to?" Jim asked, hoping it was more exciting than health forms.

"Well my roommates and I were trying to check out the…um female situation around here. No offense Alice." Sam said, blushing.

"Why would I be offended? I have a super hot boyfriend; he doesn't do that, so why should I care?" Alice retorted.

"And I have an awesome girlfriend who happens to be beyond hot. So I'm not doing that." Jim commented.

"We'll good for the both of you, having each other and all that. But in the mean time, me and Rudy, and Jeff are all free agents. So don't judge me." Sam snapped slightly.

"Hey, no need to get so defensive. We were just reassuring each other." Alice told Sam.

"So are your roommates pretty cool Sam? I only have one and he's not even here yet." Jim stated.

"Yeah they're pretty cool. We're going out to find a pizza place later…but just so you know, so far you guys are way past them in coolness."

"What about you Alice, what's the roommate situation?" Jim asked.

"I've got one roommate. Her name is Lisa. We're in some classes together so that's cool, right? We might go out later and find out where things are." Alice told them.

"Sounds like you guys are having fun. I'm all alone here. I figured I'd wait to do the exploring until I had someone to explore with. Hopefully he's a cool guy, like your roommates. Any ideas what I can do till then?" Jim hoped in the form of a question.

"What do you usually do when you're bored?" Sam asked, as if he didn't know.

"Well you know, I usually work out when I'm bored. So, if we come home for thanksgiving and I look like 'The Hulk' you'll know I was really bored." Jim joked.

"Hah, okay. I'm sure you'll be fine Jim. It's only been a few hours. You have no idea what kinds of things you'll get into. Trust me; it's not gonna be all sitting around waiting for classes to start. Or who knows maybe that's the way you like it. You are going to eight years of college, what with med school and all." Sam said, failing to ease Jim's mood.

"Listen guys, I'm sure I'm not the only one that's tired from the move. I need to get some sleep. How about we pick this up tomorrow?" Jim suggested.

"Sure thing man."

"Love ya Jim." Alice chimed in. Jim watched as Sam and Alice's fingers reached out, pressing some invisible button that only they could see, and they both faded out of existence. Jim proceeded to flop down on the bed, lying on his back, and position his hands behind his head. He was indeed tired and therefore it was not a difficult task to fall asleep in his new bed. Most of Sunday Jim spent looking over his text books while doing one-armed push-ups and looking at the map of the campus trying to make sense of where he was supposed to go for his classes in the morning. The first excitement came the next morning when it was time for his first class. It was a class that was designed to introduce students to the pre-med program and help them get the hang of things. When he got into the classroom the professor was waiting for all the students to get settled down.

"Hello I'm Doctor Lisa Cuddy, I'll be teaching you for this intro to pre-med class, as well as several courses down the road. So most likely you'll all get to know me well. I'd like to get to know you all by having you introduce yourselves and tell me a little about why you want to practice medicine. We'll start with you." Dr. Cuddy said pointing to a girl in the front row who promptly explained that she wanted to be a doctor because her whole family was in the medical field. After several other students told the class about themselves it was Jim's turn.

"Well my name is Jim Oken, I'm from Malibu. And I guess I would have to say the reason I want to be a doctor is because of my brother. Not because he and I both have type one diabetes. It's because of something that happened to him when I was twelve years old. He was eight at the time. He was playing around with his friends when he fell and broke his spine. We all thought he was going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life. But four or five hours from now he's probably going to be heading out to his high school baseball field. We all saw it as a miracle that he recovered. But my point is, when I saw how the doctors worked and the way they handled him, I knew I wanted to be able to do that some day. I'm not sure I knew right at that time that meant becoming a doctor. I think when we were both being treated for diabetic symptoms, that's when I knew it meant I wanted to be a doctor. But my brother is my reason; it all comes back to him."

"Very well put Mister Oken. Very inspired. Now, who would like to go next?" Dr. Cuddy asked the class.

The rest of the day went smoothly. All of the classes on the first day where used to get acquainted with how things were going to go the rest of the semester. Jim was fascinated with all the things he was about to learn about, and the things he would learn how to do in the future. His last class of the day was the real source of excitement though. It was a class designed for students to learn basic hands-on procedures. Unfortunately for Jim, he was a little lost at this point, so it took him a little while longer than he expected to reach the building where his last class was. When he got there all but one table was filled. There were only two seats left at the table. Jim took the one on the left, leaving the right one empty.

"Looks like you're the only one left without a practice partner. My name's Fred by the way." Another student said to him.

"Jim, Jim Oken. So what do I do since I don't have a partner?"

"Don't worry about it; I think yours is just in the other room going at it with the professor." Fred told him. Just then a guy came in, with a familiar decorum to him, arguing with the professor. She did not seem to be taking it well either.

"The procedure is sound, you're understanding of it is what's not solid. I'm the doctor and you're the pre-med student. So why don't you let me decide what's a valid procedure." The professor said heatedly.

"All I'm sayin' is if there's so much dang blood you're fixin' for trouble, that's for dang sure." He fired back in a country drawl.

"Why don't you just sit down?" The professor said irately. The student gave her a look that said he didn't want to obey.

"How 'bout this: Sit down or I'll make you sit down." The professor shot at him forcefully, partly mocking his southern accent. The student reluctantly obeyed. He sat down to the right of Jim, and perched on his chair with an expression of frustration.

"You know, if you're gonna be a doctor, there's gonna be a lot of blood, it's just the way it goes." Jim offered his opinion to the student.

"Don't pander to me kid. Y'all fresh from the beach, you don't know what yur talkin' 'bout."

"'Kid'? What are you…maybe six months older than me at the most?"

"So what? I call everybody kid."

"Why don't you call me by my _name_ instead? It's Jim by the way. Jim Oken."

"Leonard McCoy." The student responded.

"Nice to meet you Leonard."

"Sure it is!" McCoy retorted. Jim could tell right away he and McCoy weren't going to get along, which would make all the classes they had together all the more difficult.

"You know, chances are we're gonna be working together here a lot so it might not hurt if you tried getting along with me." Jim suggested.

"Anything's possible. I'll give it a shot." McCoy responded.

Several hours later, after the professor explained what they would be doing during this period, Jim and McCoy where paired up on a simulated model of a person that could be set to have any number of medical complications. Today's scenario was a basic one.

"Jim quick he's circling the drain, use the paddles." McCoy said.

"Don't be such a smart-mouth McCoy. Oken you need to apply chest compressions before it's too late." The professor scolded McCoy.

"That's what I thought." Jim said under his breath. But during all the confusion caused by McCoy, the Simulated Patient became too far gone.

"It's too late, he's dead Jim!" McCoy commented.

"That's a brilliant observation." Jim snapped back.

"Don't worry Oken; it's only the first day. You'd have gotten it if you weren't distracted. Your turn McCoy." The professor said.

After the exercise was finished the class period was over. It was now time for Jim to return to his dorm. What he found to be strange was that McCoy seemed to be headed in the same direction. When he got to the front door of the dorm building he swiped his ID card in front of the magnetic security lock which promptly unlocked the door. McCoy followed him in. When he reached the door to his room he found it rather disturbing that McCoy was still behind him.

"Wait; are you in one-twenty-three?" Jim asked him.

"Sure am, is that you too?" McCoy replied.

"Yeah, come on in." Jim said, a little somberly. He turned around to face McCoy.

"So you're my roommate?" Jim asked in slight disbelief.

"Looks like it." McCoy answered.

"Great, fake patients that die, and a roommate named Leonard." Jim commented.

"Got a problem with it kid?" McCoy stabbed at him.

"No, I was just trying to be funny."

"Not tryin' real hard, where ya'?"

"Guess not. So, Leonard…"

"Call me McCoy."

"Okay, McCoy. You wanna get outta here and find out where things are?" Jim proposed.

"Sounds like a good idea." McCoy answered back. For the next several hours they walked around and found the best places to eat, and places to find entertainment. When they got back to the dorm room they were both tired. So they took turns changing in the bathroom and then got into their respective beds and went to sleep.

Weeks later Jim was feeling much more at home, like he belonged. He had found a new friend in the form of McCoy, even though he had a very short temper to him, and a dry wit. Jim was even doing very well in his classes. He was doing especially well in his practical exercises class where he seemed to be the go-to guy when someone didn't know a procedure. Jim had seemingly mastered all of the techniques taught to them as yet. Today was a day where they were doing final practices before they were tested on a number of procedures. This had Jim's mind floating, and his concentration was slightly off.

"Jim we need you over here you're the only one that can do this. Come on, I saw you do it the other day. Show us how, will ya?" McCoy beckoned to him. It was nice to feel valued by the other students, it made him feel valid, and significant. He had always been smart, but this was different. This made him feel like he was going to make it big. But he made sure not to let it get to his head…too much. The best feeling he got was that he really was somewhere he belonged, and hours away he had somebody he loved.

_**Notes to the readers:**_

***Reviews are much appreciated!**

**-This is not the final chapter. As I said, this will go past the ending of "Meant To Be". There are several chapters still left to come (2 or 3) before the end. **

**-I would like to thank any of the people that have stayed with this story all this time, and hope you will stay with it to the end. I have enjoyed writing this story, and hope anyone reading it enjoyed it too.**

_** This is the twenty- first chapter of my story "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place before the end of "Meant To Be"._

_***Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties/forties. Jimmy is __**18. **__Rose is __**16. **__Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are __**14.**_

_****If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!_


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